


Open Space

by flockofpidge



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Voltron, based off of art i saw, keith - Freeform, keith kogane - Freeform, klance, lance - Freeform, lance mcclain - Freeform, they're stuck in space, vld, voltron legendary defender - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 04:11:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10403652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flockofpidge/pseuds/flockofpidge
Summary: Lance & Keith are stranded in space.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends! This is a super short little thing I wrote after I saw some art on tumblr that made me feel some things.
> 
> The art is by Tumblr user @emkayohh and it super amazing, so you should check it out.
> 
> As always, let me know if there are any mistakes, and please enjoy!
> 
> My tumblr: @flockofpidge

Lance could feel a trail of blood trickling down his face, the pressure from his helmet pressing on the wound, making him flinch. His comm flickered with sound, crackling in and out.   
“Lan-“ Hunk’s panicked voice was loud in his ears but the silence that cut him off was deafening.   
Peering around, Lance noticed that the emergency lights had come on in his cockpit. He ignored the flare of pain in his arms and he tried to move Blue’s stick controls. This brought panic to his chest. Blue was unresponsive.   
“Blue?” He pleaded, “Come on girl.”   
He had taken a heavy hit to the flank with some new Galra weapon, and he had blacked out for a moment. Now his lion floated dead in space. Though the foggy glass of Blue’s eyes Lance could see the planet they were supposed to be freeing from the Galra. He was getting farther away, drifting into open space. He watched the other lions darting around on the surface, knocking down towers and crushing fleets of Galra soldiers.   
A new surge of panic filled him. Without his cover fire from space, they had essentially no backup or guard from the fleets coming down to defend the Galra’s forces on the planet’s surface. It was just him and Keith, and without them, Pidge, Shiro and Hunk would be surrounded. Judging by the static still crackling through his comm, he wouldn’t be able to warn them either. Keith would be their last line of defence from above.   
Keith.   
Lance watched the red lion dart back and forth between ships, now having to provide cover for both the blue lion, and the planet. He would be overwhelmed.  
Suddenly, another shot wracked the Blue lion. Blue’s controls flickered on for a moment, and so did Lance’s comm.  
“Lance! Lance! Can you hear me? Are you okay?” Keith sounded desperate.  
“Yeah, I’m all good. Thanks, Mullet.” He could practically hear Keith roll his eyes.   
“How’s Blue?” His voice was considerably less panicked, but he continued to evade and burn the Galra ships.   
“Uh-“ Lance looked around at the control panel, which was flickering in and out. “She’s not too great. I don’t she’ll be flying anytime soon.”   
Keith swore, and Lance’s head snapped up, just in time to see Keith’s tail end get hit by the same large cannon that had hit him before.   
“Keith!”  
Keith coughed a few times, but then said, “I’m okay. Red’s not though. That gun must be disabling. Shit!” He swore again as a large Galra ship approached him and a large claw extended out and latched on to his lion.   
The Blue lion shuddered violently, and Lance knew a similar claw had just grabbed her. Suddenly, her power ramped up and with one last push, she ejected Lance from the cockpit, into open space.   
“Blue, no!” Lance reached out desperately, clawing at nothing, gasping as oxygen filled his helmet. He could only watch as his lion was pulled into the Galra ship, along with Red.   
Panicked, he whirled around looking for Keith. He could hear him swearing into the comm, but he couldn't see him. Just as the doors on the bay of the ship were about to close, Keith was propelled out of Red’s mouth.  
Making sure his jetpack was still functional, Lance raced towards Keith.   
“Keith!” The red paladin began to move towards him, and they grasped at each other, hugging quickly.   
“Thank god you’re okay. I thought they had captured you.” Lance sighs, clutching Keith tighter. Keith flushed.  
“Can you contact the team? My comm’s only working for you.” Keith shook his head.  
“No. I lost contact with them when they breached the planet’s atmosphere. I think we’re too far away.”   
The gravity of the situation hit them together. They were stranded in space, with limited oxygen. They were drifting farther away from the planet where their only hope of help was being overtaken and no one knew where they were. They were alone.  
“Okay,” Keith breathed heavily, “We can get out of this, it’s all good. We need to contact the Castle.”  
Lance shook his head, “Our comms aren’t working, so we can’t contact anyone right now until their back online.”  
The already small planet seemed to be shrinking as they drifted away from it. Keith started to activate his jetpack to pull them closer but Lance yanked at his arm, pulling him the other way.  
“What are you doing? We need to get to the planet so we can tell the others what happened!”   
Lance looked at him incredulously.   
“And when we breach the atmosphere, what are we going to do? Were you not listening during the briefing? Allura said that the gravity is similar to Earth. We’d immediately plummet to our deaths. We have to wait.”   
Keith’s face was pinched into a frown. He looked determined, restless, and upset. Lance knew that he hated being helpless; he hated waiting.   
“It’s okay. They’ll finish up down there, and then they’ll come and find us. It’ll be fine.” He tried to sooth him, but Keith just stared with hard eyes down at the surface of the planet, where he could see their friends being overwhelmed by the Galra.   
Lance grabbed his helmet, forcing him to look up.  
“It’ll be okay. They’ve dealt with worse.” He lied. Lance knew that Keith knew he was lying, but a hand came to settle on his bicep and they held each others eyes.  
“Thanks.” He was still scowling, but his worried mouth had smoothed out.   
“Hey, you keep scowling like that and you’ll get wrinkles. Careful, or else I might have to give you a face mask if we make it back to the Castle.” Lance chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.  
Keith’s eyes hardened, and he looked angry.  
“When.” Lance quirked an eyebrow.  
“When we make it back to the Castle,” Keith clarified, “Not if.”   
“Keith-“  
“No, Lance. We are making it back. You don’t get to give up. I’m not letting you.” Keith’s grip got tighter, his voice becoming desperate.   
Looking at the oxygen levels on his visor, he saw they were just under halfway depleted. They were not meant to be out here this long.  
“Keith, we’re running out of air, the others are going to be captured, and even if they do find us, it won’t be in time.” He paused, then met Keith’s eyes with a determined stare.  
“Take my air tank.”  
“What?” Keith said in a breathless voice.  
“Take my tank. You’ll survive longer out here on two, even though there’s not much left. They should get to you in that time. I’m pretty expendable, so you’ll be able to find a new pilot for Blue.” He could feel tears welling up in his eyes so he let go of Keith with one hand and began to fiddle with his suit.  
Keith grabbed both his hands and forced him to look up.   
“Lance. You are worth so much. Don’t you dare say you’re replaceable, because you’re not. You’re the one that holds us together, keeps us sane. Without you, Voltron would fall apart. The team needs you,” A pretty flush spread across Keith’s cheek bones, even as his eyes stayed intense. “I need you.”  
Lance just gaped at Keith, before pulling him into a hug. After a moment, Keith pulled back, “And I’m not taking your fucking tank.”  
Lance laughed, but it came out as more of a sob. He held Keith’s face in his hands, his gloves leaving prints on the red paladin’s visor. He felt tears start to stream down his cheeks, and he choked on his breath because there, in that moment, Keith was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. And they were going to die.  
“Keith-“ He sobbed, “Before we run out of air, I just- I need you to know-” Keith looked at him, eyes wide and soft, a sharp contrast to his hand that was digging into Lance’s bicep, grasping at him like a lifeline.  
“I love you,” Lance said quietly, “So much. For a while now, too, and I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable but I just- I couldn’t not say anything. I love you.” He peered into Keith’s eyes, which immediately began welling up, silent tears streaking down his face. He started to laugh.  
“Keith, wha-“   
“We’re both such idiots.” Keith’s grin shone like the sun even though they were in open space, and Lance had never seen him smile so large. “God, Lance, I love you too. I always though you hated me and you probably thought the same! Lance, we’re such idiots!” He was near hysterical now, sobs tearing from his chest as he clutched to Lance.  
Lance was trying to register what Keith had said. They love each other. They both had feelings for the other. And now they are going to die, because the only way they could ever confess their feelings was if they were on the brink of death.   
The boys laughed and cried and clung to each other as their oxygen depleted slowly.   
“And, the worst part is that I can’t even kiss you because we’re in space! I fucking hate space sometimes.” Keith exclaimed, hugging Lance close to him.  
Lance could feel himself getting lightheaded, and his armour began blinking at him, warning of low oxygen levels. He closed his eyes and settled into Keith’s arms, welcoming the darkness that ebbed at the edges of his vision. He could hear Keith’s panicked voice calling his name, shaking him, trying to get him to stay awake.  
As his throat closed and the darkness overtook him, Lance thought he heard the roar of a lion.

————————

His eyes felt sticky.   
The pod slid open, and Lance fell forward into warm, waiting arms. He was walked over to a chair, where he sat down, then blinked sleepily up at the faces surrounding him.  
One by one he was hugged by his teammates, telling him how thankful they were that he survived, and how it wasn’t his fault.   
Keith lingered towards the back of the crowd, waiting for his turn to greet Lance. To hold him again.   
There was no words exchanged, just Lance eagerly pulling Keith into his arms, holding onto him like he did out in space.   
“I thought I lost you.” Keith whispered.   
“It takes more than that to get rid of me.” Lance pulled back and grinned at him, sliding a hand into Keith’s hair and yanking him in for a kiss. It was messy and awkward, just like them. They pulled apart slowly, and Keith enjoyed the feeling of Lance carding his fingers through his hair.  
“Damn, I thought you would have gotten rid of this damn mullet while I was out.” He grinned, twirling the strands around his fingers and looping his other arm around Keith’s waist.  
Pulling him closer, Keith grinned at Lance.   
“You love it.”  
Lance grinned back, then tugged him in for another kiss.   
“Yeah, I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends! This is a super short little thing I wrote after I saw some art on tumblr that made me feel some things.
> 
> The art is by Tumblr user @emkayohh and it super amazing, so you should check it out.
> 
> As always, let me know if there are any mistakes, and please enjoy!
> 
> My tumblr: @flockofpidge


End file.
